WHOLETRAIN trailer (2010) the film screens Saturday @ MOCA as part of Art In The Streets

Art in the Streets - the engaging ongoing presentation of graffiti and street art on exhibit at Los Angeles' Museum Of Contemporary Art (aka MOCA) - that opened in April is drawing to a close in a couple of weeks but before its August 8th last day it still has some new special events planned, including some one-off events. These include an "art talk" by Chaz Bojorquez tomorrow only (July 21st) at 6:30 PM in which the legendary L.A. graffiti artist will discuss his rich body of work as he leads a group walk through MOCA where his art is currently on display. As he does will discuss his and LA's graffit in context of the overall global street art movement of the past several decades which is the theme of Art In The Streets which was fully previewed by the Amoeblog back in April. Bojorquez's lecture is free with general admission to the musuem and no reservations are required.

Then on Saturday (July 23) at 6:30 PM at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA there will be a screening of the entertaining European feature film about the trials and tribulations of four young graffiti artists WHOLETRAIN. The German film's director Florian Gaag (a former graffiti artist turned filmmaker), who was interviewed by the Amoeblog last November when the film was released on DVD (look for it at Amoeba), said that it took him six years (five years longer than projected) to complete the film due to constant opposition due to its illegal art subject matter.

"It took two years just to get shooting permission since the German transportation authorities refused to talk to us and threatened to inform all other transit companies in Europe about the project so it [couldn't] get made. It was a lucky coincidence that we were finally able to shoot the film in Warsaw, Poland," said the director of WHOLETRAIN (which has a killer hip-hop soundtrack) which first screened in LA February of last year when it was reviewed by the Amoeblog.

For general MOCA info including admission costs click here. And for those on a tight budget thanks to the mysterious UK street artist Banksy, whose work is part of the current exhibit, admission to Art In The Streets at MOCA will be free on the remaining two Mondays of the exhibition; July 25th, August 1st, & August 8th. “I don’t think you should have to pay to look at graffiti. You should only pay if you want to get rid of it,” said Banksy as to why he chose to donate money to allow free admission to MOCA.